Capacity Development Officer

Job description

WeForest

WeForest is an international non-profit organization dedicated to restoring forests and landscapes for climate, people, and the planet. With projects in Argentina, Brazil, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Malawi, Senegal, and Zambia, WeForest brings together a diverse team with a wide range of cultural and technical backgrounds. This diversity is a key strength, and fostering mutual respect and collaboration across different perspectives is essential to our mission. We promote scientifically grounded solutions that not only enhance carbon sequestration but also support water availability, biodiversity conservation, and rural livelihoods, ensuring sustainable and impactful ecosystem restoration.

 Role Purpose

The Capacity Development Officer (CDO) leads project-level organisational capacity development for Forest Trusts, Village Resource Management Committees and other community based organizations in WeForest Zambia Projects in Masaiti District supporting their progression toward strong governance, effective management, financial accountability, programme excellence, strategic partnerships, and long-term sustainability through community led, design and implementation of capacity development interventions. The role applies participatory, asset-based, and behaviour-centred approaches to ensure ownership, legitimacy, and institutional maturity.

RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Leadership and Governance

●       Support development and internalisation of vision, mission, values, and strategic plans.

●       Strengthen governance structures, board functionality, decision-making, accountability, and DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) integration.

●       Support leadership development, succession planning, legal compliance, and community legitimacy.

2. Organisational Management and Operations

●       Strengthen organisational structures, administrative systems, HR frameworks, risk management, and operational asset management

●       Support annual work planning, conflict resolution mechanisms, and effective records management.

3. Financial Management

●       Strengthen financial governance through budgeting, controls, record keeping, reporting, and banking systems.

●       Support placement and mentoring of finance personnel and compliance with financial policies.

4. Programme and Project Management

●       Strengthen planning, implementation, MEL (monitoring, evaluation & learning), reporting, and new programme development.

●       Support learning, adaptation, and evidence-based decision-making.

5. External Relations and Partnerships

●       Strengthen partnerships, donor relations, advocacy, communications, media engagement, and government/private sector linkages.

●       Support beneficiary engagement, feedback systems, and DEI mainstreaming.

6. Sustainability

●       Support resource mobilisation, income diversification, reserves, productive assets, and cost-recovery mechanisms.

●       Strengthen long-term partnerships, programme growth, continuity, and social licence.

3. Cross-Cutting Responsibilities

●       Conduct organisational assessments and develop capacity development plans.

●       Provide coaching, mentoring, and facilitation to leadership and management teams.

●       Monitor progress toward organisational maturity and document learning.

●       Coordinate with project teams, partners, and stakeholders.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

Essential:

●       Bachelor’s degree in Development Studies, Community Development, Organisational Development, Public Administration, or related field.

●       Minimum 5 years’ experience in organisational capacity development or institutional strengthening for forest trusts, community resource boards, community forest management groups or equivalent

●       Proven experience and track record working with community-based or forest and farm producer organisations, and resource mobilisation

●       Experience in advocacy, media engagement, and the development of communication materials (including videos, photographs, and news articles) will be an added advantage.

●       Experience in monitoring, evaluation and learning relating to organisational development

●       Desirable: Experience or strong interest in Behaviour-Centred Design (BCD) or similar behaviour focused methodologies

●       Strong facilitation, systems thinking, and stakeholder engagement skills.

●       Languages: Excellent Bemba and English (spoken and written)

Key Competencies

●       Organisational development and systems strengthening

●       Facilitation, coaching, and mentoring

●       Transparent governance and financial management and accountability

●       Partnership and stakeholder management

●       Strategic Communication, Advocacy, and Media Engagement

●       Gender, Equity, and Social Inclusion mainstreaming

●       All academic and professional certificates should be certified by the Zambia Qualification Authority (ZAQA)

●       A valid practising certificate from a relevant professional body

Terms & Conditions

Position: Full-time employee, 5 or 5.5 days per week.

Base:WeForest Zambia Project Office, Masaiti District, Copperbelt, Zambia

Start date: February 2026

Package: Competitive package for a small organization, level 2c salary

Interested?

Please send applications to recruitment.zambia@weforest.org with your CV, a motivation letter, and 3 recent references by 9th January 2026.

Make sure to mention the job title in the subject of the email, and to indicate where you saw the job post. In your motivation letter, we would love to read about what makes you interested to work with WeForest.

Due to the anticipated high number of applicants, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. We thank you in advance for your interest.